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B O S T O N C O N S E R V A T O R Y A T B E R K L E E P R E S E N T S

February 7-12, 2017

NEW MUSICBOSTON CONSERVATORY AT BERKLEE

THE MUSIC OFNICO MUHLY

FESTIVAL

2 • Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Director’s Note

Nico Muhly's residency is made possible by the Pam Kunkemueller Artist-in-Residence program

DIRECTOR’S NOTE“We are thrilled to welcome composer Nico Muhly as our Kunkemueller Artist-in-Residence for the 2017 Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival. I first met Nico in person in 1997. With many mutual musical acquaintances within our New England community, it was an inevitability. Over the years I have enjoyed collaborations with him, and been delighted to present his music as a saxophonist and conductor. His is one of the most important musical voices in America, and indeed in the world, today. He has composed extensively for the dramatic stage, orchestras of every size and shape, choirs both secular and sacred, and for chamber musicians and soloists of the highest levels. He engages across the dissolving boundaries of genre with artists from Björk to the Boston POPS, the Detriot Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera. Nico’s musical interests run deep and wide. Many of his most treasured collaborators are old friends with whom he continues to develop a relationship and a repertoire, like Nadia Sirota and Samuel Solomon. During the events this week we will offer a kaleidoscopic overview of his works from pieces for solo instruments, chamber groups, choral and instrumental ensembles, and the dramatic stage. There is a poignancy, intimacy, and personal connection to our human experience which is embodied in his music. We are honored to offer the first fully dedicated music festival of Nico’s works, here in the city of Boston. For his unending musical generosity and incredible work with our students - thank you, Nico!!”

— Eric Hewitt, artistic director

Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Concert Series • 3

CONCERT SERIES

Wednesday, February 8, 20178:00 p.m., Seully Hall

VIOLA DRONINGNico Muhly with Nadia Sirota

Friday, February 10, 20178:00 p.m., Seully Hall

BY ALL MEANSBoston Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble

Eric Hewitt, director

Thursday, February 9, 2017Friday, February 10, 2017

Saturday, February 11, 20178:00 p.m., Boston Conservatory Theater ($)

Sunday, February 12, 20172:00 p.m., Boston Conservatory Theater ($)

DARK SISTERSBoston Conservatory Opera

Nathan Troup, director Andrew Altenbach, conductor

Thursday, February 9, 20178:00 p.m., Seully Hall

SUNG AND STRUCKBoston Conservatory Chorale and Percussion Ensemble

George Case, conductor Samuel Solomon, director

4 • Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Lecture Series

LECTURE SERIES

Nico Muhly, organEric Hewitt, saxophone

Presentation and discussion of early worksPremiere of Chronos: Concerto for Saxophone

Tuesday, February 9, 20178:00 p.m., Seully Hall

JUVENILIA:WORKS FROM YOUNG LIFE

Nico Muhly and Nadia Sirota

Contemporary Music Performance students are coached in chamber musicworks, including Common Ground, Object Songs, and It Goes without Saying

Friday, February 10, 201711:00 a.m., Seully Hall

CHAMBER MUSIC MASTERCLASS

Nico Muhly, Nathan Troup,Andrew Altenbach, and Johnathon Pape

Interactive Q&A with Dark Sisters artistic team and Nico Muhly on modern-dayopera, composition for the dramatic stage, and creative collaboration

Friday, February 10, 20176:00 p.m., Boston Conservatory Theater

PANEL DISCUSSION:

All events free and open to the public

bostonconservatory.berklee.edu • 5

DARK SISTERSAn opera by NICO MUHLY Libretto by STEPHEN KARAM

Presented as part of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s 2016–2017 New Music Festival: The Music of Nico Muhly

Conducted by ANDREW ALTENBACHDirected by NATHAN TROUP

FEBRUARY 9–12THURSDAY–SATURDAY* 8:00 P.M. • SUNDAY, 2:00 P.M.31 HEMENWAY STREET, BOSTONSung in English with English supertitles*A free panel discussion with Muhly, Altenbach, and Troup will precede Friday’s performance. Details online.


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6 • Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Featured Artist

FEATURED ARTISTNICO MUHLY (b. 1981) is a composer of operas, chamber and symphonic works, and sacred music whose influences range from American minimalism to the Anglican choral tradition. Described by The Guardian as “one of the most celebrated and sought- after classical composers of the last decade,” he is the youngest composer ever commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and has received additional commissions from Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Library of Congress, and Wigmore Hall, among other institutions. In more than 80 works for the concert stage, he has embraced subjects ranging from Renaissance astrology to the ethics of artificial intelligence while collaborating with artists as diverse as Benjamin Millepied, Anne Sofie von Otter, and Joanna Newsom.

Muhly has written two operas: Two Boys (2010), a cautionary tale about identity online, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and co produced by the English National Opera with a libretto by Craig Lucas and directed by Bartlett Sher; and Dark Sisters (2011), about a community of polygamists in the American Southwest, set to a libretto by Stephen Karam and directed by Rebecca Taichman. He is at work on a third opera, Marnie, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera for its 2019-20 20 season and based on the novel that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s film.

His additional works for voice include the song cycles Sentences (2015), written for countertenor Iestyn Davies and based on the life of British computer scientist Alan Turing, and Impossible Things (2009), written for tenor Mark Padmore on a text by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy. His major choral works include Bright Mass with Canons (2005); My Days (2011), a commemoration of Orlando Gibbons, written for Fretwork and the Hilliard Ensemble; and Recordare, Domine (2013), commissioned by Lincoln Center and the Tallis Scholars. In 2015, Nadia Sirota premiered Muhly’s Viola Concerto, the first work in a three-part commission for the violist. Other recent orchestral works include Control: Five Landscapes for Orchestra (2015), a celebration of Utah’s natural landscape, written for the Utah Symphony; and Mixed Messages (2015), composed for the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Beyond the concert stage, Muhly is a sought- after collaborator across genres. He has worked on multiple occasions with choreographer Benjamin Millepied on scores for New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and the Paris Opera Ballet. Additionally, he collaborated with choreographers Kim Brandstrup and Wayne McGregor on Machina (2012) for the Royal Ballet and, for choreographer Stephen Petronio, composed I Drink the Air Before Me (2010), an evening- length work featuring a children’s choir. As an arranger, Muhly has paired with Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, Antony and the Johnsons, The National, and Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), among others. He has also

Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Guest Artist • 7

written for theater and film, contributing scores for the 2013 Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie, directed by John Tiffany, and for the films Kill Your Darlings; Me, Earl and the Dying Girl; and the Academy Award- winning The Reader. Muhly is part of the artist- run record label Bedroom Community, co founded by Icelandic producer- engineer Valgeir Sigurðsson, which was inaugurated with the release of Muhly's first album, Speaks Volumes (2006). His second album for the label, Mothertongue (2008), included The Only Tune, a setting of the traditional murder ballad Two Sisters, featuring singer Sam Amidon accompanied by samples of scraping knives and brushed hair.

Born in Vermont and raised in Rhode Island, Muhly studied composition at The Juilliard School with John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, and worked subsequently as an editor and conductor for composer Philip Glass. He currently lives in New York City.

GUEST ARTISTViolist NADIA SIROTA'S varied career spans solo performances, chamber music, and podcasting. In all branches of her artistic life she aims to open classical music up to a broader audience. Sirota's singular sound and expressive execution have served as muse to dozens of composers, including Nico Muhly, Donnacha Dennehy, Bryce Dessner, Richard Reed Parry, and Marcos Balter. Recently, Sirota won a 2015 Peabody Award, broadcasting's highest honor, for her podcast Meet the Composer, from Q2 Music, which deftly profiles some of the most interesting musical thinkers living today.

This season she releases two new records, one featuring Nico Muhly's Viola Concerto with the Detroit Symphony under Leonard Slatkin, and one featuring Donnacha Dennehy's groundbreaking work for viola and microtonal viola da gamba consort, Tessellatum, featuring gambist Liam Byrne.

Nadia is a member of the chamber sextet yMusic and the chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound, and has lent her sound to recording and concert projects by such artists and songwriters as Anohni, Jónsi, and Arcade Fire. In 2013 she won Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Prize, awarded to pioneering artists and scholars with an emerging international profile. She received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, studying with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Hsin-Yun Huang.

8 • Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Viola Droning

VIOLA DRONING

Wednesday, February 8, 20178:00 p.m., Seully Hall

Nico Muhly, keyboardsNadia Sirota, viola

Drones & Viola 2011

Drones & Piano 2010

Three Etudes for Viola 2013 1. 1a. 2. 3.

P R O G R A M

Program to be announced from stage. Selections to include:

bostonconservatory.berklee.edu • 9


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MARCH 10FRIDAY, 7:00 P.M. (Pre-concert lecture) • 8:00 P.M. (Concert)SANDERS THEATRE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITYCall the Harvard Box Office for tickets at 617-496-2222

BOSTON CONSERVATORY

ORCHESTRABRUCE HANGEN, conductor

With the BOSTON CONSERVATORY CHORALE and WOMEN’S CHORUS, prepared by GEORGE CASE

GRIEGThe complete incidental music to Peer Gynt, op. 23,featuring Toby Weinberg (hardanger fiddle)

10 • Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Artist Biographies

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIESGEORGE CASE, D.M.A., conductor—is the director of choral activities at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he conducts the choral ensembles, teaches choral literature, and directs the graduate choral conducting program. Case is the director ad interim of choral conducting at Boston University where he directs the graduate program in choral conducting. Case is also the music director of the Newburyport Choral Society, an 80-year old choral ensemble on the North Shore. He holds an M.M. and a D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Michigan and a B.M. in vocal performance from Boston University.

Case is an award-winning educator of young musicians who frequently leads clinics and workshops for high school and college singers, as well as professional development sessions for teachers around the country. From 2007–2010, Case was the director of choral and vocal programs at Pebblebrook High School in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, and he

served on the faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute from 2005–2012.

As a soloist and professional chorister, Case is a regular member of and soloist with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Atlanta Singers, Meridian Chorale, Skylark Vocal Ensemble, Marsh Chapel Choir, Handel and Haydn Society, and the Carnegie Festival Chorus.

SAMUEL Z. SOLOMON, director—teaches percussion at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Boston University, and The Boston University Tanglewood Institute. From 2007–2011, he was president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society. His book, How to Write for Percussion, has received critical acclaim from composers, performers, and conductors worldwide and will soon be available in three languages. He has also authored three books on percussion playing, and curated two collections of percussion etudes and solos. Solomon is founding member of the Yesaroun' Duo and the Line C3 percussion group. From 2005–2010, he was percussionist in residence at Harvard University and, since 2003, has been principal timpanist of the Amici New York Chamber Orchestra. He can be heard as soloist and chamber musician on GM, Albany, Bedroom Community, New Focus and Tzadik labels, as well as performing the music of Björk on her soundtrack to

Matthew Barney’s film Drawing Restraint 9.

Solomon lives in Hull, MA with his wife, Kristy, and sons, Nicolas and Leo.Read Solomon’s complete biography at: www.szsolomon.com.

Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Artist Biographies • 11

Eric Alexander Hewitt, artistic director—is an acclaimed saxophonist, conductor, composer, educator, and jazz man. He joined the Conservatory in 2005 and served as chair of the woodwind department until 2015. Hewitt currently serves as music director of the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Sinfonietta, Composers' Orchestra, and Classical Contemporary Music Ensemble and is artistic director of the Conservatory's annual New Music Festival. He also currently teaches applied saxophone and conducting, orchestral studies, and chamber music. In addition to teaching at the Conservatory, Hewitt teaches and conducts at Phillips Exeter Academy, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensembles, and Boston College High School. Guest conducting credits include the Fromm concerts at Harvard, Alea III, the New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble, the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra, and New Music Brandeis.

As a saxophonist, Hewitt helped found the Yesaroun’ Duo and the Radnofsky Saxophone Quartet. He has performed as a soloist and guest saxophonist with the Boston Pops, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the New World Symphony, the Ryles Jazz Orchestra, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center. He has performed with jazz greats Arturo Sandoval, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Slide Hampton, and Phil Wilson. Hewitt can be heard on many BMOP/sound recordings and on the Albany, Troy, GM Recordings, Navona, Newport Classics, New Focus, New World, col legno, and Innova labels. Hewitt is a D’Addario performing artist/clinician. He has presented performances the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Canada, Japan, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Hewitt holds a B.M. in saxophone performance (2001) and an M.M. in conducting (2003), both with a distinction in performance and academic honors, from New England Conservatory (NEC). From NEC, he also received the Chadwick Medal, Schuller Medal, the Tourjeé Alumni Award, and the Cage Award. In 2009, Hewitt was named Outstanding Music Faculty by the Boston Conservatory Student Government Association. After a four-year, live-in apprenticeship under Gunther Schuller, he now resides in Medford, Massachusetts.

12 • Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • Sung and Struck

SUNG AND STRUCK

Thursday, February 9, 20178:00 p.m., Seully Hall

Boston Conservatory ChoraleGeorge Case, conductor

Joe Turbessi, organ

Boston Conservatory Percussion EnsembleSamuel Solomon, director

Let All the World in Every Corner Sing 2014

Michael Mahler, cello

A Good Understanding 2005

Brianna Meese, sopranoClaire Clyne, soprano

Noah Rosen, percussion

— I N T E R M I S S I O N —

P R O G R A M

Bright Mass with Canons 2005 i. Kyrie ii. Gloria

Lauren Dessinger, sopranoMadeline Bawden, alto

iii. Sanctus iv. Agnus Dei

Lauren Dessinger, soprano

Boston Conservatory Chorale & Percussion Ensemble • 13

Pulses, Cycles, Clouds 2016

Pillaging Music 2005

Samuel Solomon, percussionNico Muhly, piano

Joanna Chen, percussionShelbie Rassler, percussion

Avik Chari, percussionLucas Ranieri, percussion

Elliot Kuhl, percussionManuel Garcia, percussion

Christopher Chapin, percussionDaiwei Lu, percussion

Cody McVey, percussion

Sam Hardy, percussionTzu-En Chang, percussionHarry Zhang, percussion

Dan Smiley Raderman, percussionTravis Newman, percussionGabriella Mayer, percussion

Noah Rosen, percussionEvan Grover, percussionXinyi Zheng, percussion

Ta & Clap 2005

Ryan Aguilar, percussionWilliam Land, percussionReed Puleo, percussion

Neil McNulty, percussion

Beaming Music 2002

Ayami Okamura, marimbaJoe Turbessi, organ


SUNG AND STRUCKT E X T S & T R A N S L AT I O N S

A Good Understanding

The Lord reigneth;Let the people tremble:He sitteth between the cherubims;Let the earth be moved.

The Lord is great in Zionand he is high above all the people.Let them praise thy great and terrible name for it is holy.

He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar:they kept his testimoniesand the ordinance that he gave them.

Te, te, te…

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

A good understanding have all they that do his commandments.His praise endureth for ever.

Bright Mass with Canons

i. Kyrie

Kyrie eleisonChriste eleison

ii. Gloria

Gloria in excelsis Deo,et in terra pax hominibusbonae voluntatisLaudamus te, benedicimus te,Adoramus te, glorificamus te,Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam,

Let All the World in Every Corner Sing

Let all the world in every corner sing,My God and King. The heavens are not too high,His praises may thither fly:The earth is not too low,His praises there may grow. Let all the world in every corner sing,My God and King. The church with psalms must shout,No door can keep them out.But above all, the heartMust bear the longest part Let all the world in every corner sing,My God and King.

Text by George Herbert

i. Kyrie

Lord have mercyChrist have mercy

ii. Gloria

Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace among men of goodwillWe praise you, we bless you,We adore you, we glorify you,We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory,


(continued)

Domine DeusRex Cælestis Deus Pater omnipotens, Domine fili unigeniteJesu ChristeDomine Deus Agnus Dei, Filius PatrisQui tollis peccata mundimiserere nobis,Qui tollis peccata mundisuscipe deprecationem nostramQui sedes ad dexteram Patrismiserere nobisQuoniam tu solus SanctusTu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christecum Sancto Spiritu inGloria Dei PatrisAmen.

iii. Sanctus & Benedictus

Sanctus, Sanctus, SanctusDomine Deus SabaothPleni sunt coeli et terra Gloria tua Hosanna in excelsisBenedicimus te qui venit in nomine Domini.Hosanna in excelsis

iv. Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,Miserere nobisAgnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Dona nobis pacem

O GodKing of HeavenGod the Father Almighty,The only begotten SonJesus ChristO GodLamb of God, son of the FatherWho takes away the sins of the worldHave mercy on us,Who takes away the sins of the worldAccept our prayerWho sits at the right hand of the Father have mercy on usFor you alone are holyYou alone are the Most High, Jesus Christwith the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the FatherAmen.

iii. Sanctus & Benedictus

Holy, holy, holyLord God of HostsHeaven and earth are fullof thy glory.Hosanna in excelsis.Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.Hosanna in the highest.

iv. Agnus Dei

Lamb of Godwho takes away the sins of the worldHave mercy on usLamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world Grant us peace.

T E X T S & T R A N S L AT I O N S


SUNG AND STRUCKP R O G R A M N O T E S

A Good Understanding (2005) was written for Tim Brown and the choir of Clare College, Cambridge with St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York, as well. Muhly writes, “The piece unfolds episodically: short choral phrases alternating with longer instrumental interludes.” The first half of the text is typical psaltery praise-making: outlining agreements, explaining the rules; the music is, accordingly, severe but practical. The second half of the text begins, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom / a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.” I find the idea of “a good understanding” to be an especially exciting reward for following the rules; the boys sing pulsed syllables and long descants to celebrate the covenant while the choir sings a lilting, repetitive refrain.” In this piece, Muhly marries his expressive choral writing with more allegiance to the minimalist compositional technique. We hear this in the preponderance of repetition in the voices, the driving rhythm of the organ and percussion, and incessant, pulsing motion of the composition from start to finish.

—George Case

Let All the World in Every Corner Sing (2014) Muhly’s fresh interpretation to this beloved text from mystical poet George Herbert. Most famously set, perhaps, by Ralph Vaughan Williams as the culmination of his Five Mystical Songs, Muhly builds upon this tradition with another wonderful setting. Set primarily with a homophonic texture, the chorus and organ provide separate sound worlds and both support the laudatory nature of the text. Lyricism is matched with laudatory praise. —George Case

Bright Mass with Canons (2005) was written for John Scott, the former music director of the Choir of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York. This pre-eminent choir of men and boys builds upon the Anglican choir school tradition. Founded in 1919, the Saint Thomas Choir School is the only boarding school solely for choristers in the United States, and one of only three schools of its type remaining in the world today. Muhly uses canon—or imitative repetition—pervasively throughout this composition. Accompanied by organ, the choir and organ exist in two separate sound worlds. Where the choral writing nods to the Renaissance, the organ writing can be thought of as improvisatory and minimalistic. —George Case

Beaming Music (2002) is, at its heart, about small rhythmic cells transforming themselves into large, open chords. While this is most evident in the section immediately following the marimba solo two-thirds of the way through, the idea of something small blossoming into a huge chord pervades the piece. The title refers not only to the various metric subdivisions of the main material, but also to Chris Thompson, the percussionist who commissioned it, whose sunny disposition colored each stage of this piece's conception, rehearsal, and performance.

—Nico Muhly

Ta & Clap (2005) is a play of rhythm, meter, and tempo, and how each can be obscured by changing instrument colors or clarified by harmony. Written in 2005 for the Line C3 percussion


group, the work was intended as a complement to John Cage’s Third Construction, as it can be played from the Cage setup with the addition of two marimbas. Muhly did not, however, request the same instruments as Cage; rather, he left the instrumentation open to the performers’ choosing. The idea of open instrumentation is further encouraged by Muhly’s request that each repeat of a figure be played on a different set of instruments. This break from any sense of timbral control or consistency illuminates the importance of the rhythmic material and the auxiliary nature of the colors used to communicate them. Paying homage to the “ta and clap” rhythm exercise technique used in ear training classes where rhythms are “ta”-ed and rests are clapped, the work’s complex opening bass drum rhythm is gradually filled in and colored by other instruments. Over time, these rhythms and shifting instrument colors are focused and translated into melody and harmony as all players move to the marimbas.

—Samuel Solomon

Pillaging Music (2005) was inspired by the writing of Pierre Boulez, and it’s easy to hear the influence of pieces like Sur-incises and Répons on this metallic piano/percussion texture, with its wild, electronic antiphony. But where Boulez’s music wears, self-consciously, the sheen of the new Pillaging Music has been painstakingly distressed. The percussion is complemented by a battery of found instruments, household objects chosen to approximate the pitches of the other instruments without matching them exactly. And the tape component was edited (by the composer and Valgeir Sigurðsson) with an ear-popping ruthlessness. More obviously, where Boulez's convulsive rhythms and atonal harmonies reject the familiar, inhabitable spaces of classical music—”He takes the gargoyles,” composer Ned Rorem complained after hearing Répons, “and leaves the cathedral” —Muhly is willfully humane, pushing the drama of his tonal language across the threshold of camp. The aggression is ritualized, mitigated by an excess of style. A hushed, reverent interlude demonstrates that Muhly could never leave the cathedral too far behind, before the instruments literally race ”Nancarrow-like” to the piece's rhythmically virtuosic conclusion. —Daniel Johnson

Pulses, Cycles, Clouds (2016) is a piece for large mixed percussion ensemble written for the 50th anniversary of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). At its core is a group of four marimbas, surrounded by various bells and other mallet instruments; unpitched instruments here are primarily played by an ensemble of amateur percussionists, namely, composers. The piece obsesses over a cycle of eleven chords, introduced slowly through the beginning of the piece. Each chord is announced by a large vertical moment with bells, vibraphone, and a sudden shift in tonality. The four marimbas then relax into a series of soft, interlocking patterns, over which an ensemble of glockenspiels and crotales plays a simple rhythm in a complex relationship to the other instruments. Eventually, the pulse disintegrates entirely, into a vision of a night sky: insects, unexpected interruptions — a walk around a quiet landscape. Eventually, the pulse returns, but nocturnally subdued. The piece is meant to echo, in its way, the thrill of community music-making, the joy of sharing a pulse, and the various connections both rhythmic and interpersonal I made at BUTI two decades ago. —Nico Muhly

P R O G R A M N O T E S


SUNG AND STRUCKB O S T O N C O N S E R VAT O R Y C H O R A L E

George Case, conductorJohn Verkuilen, assistant conductor

Joe Turbessi, organ

SOPRANO

Hagar Adam, B.M. '20Jordan Beaver, B.M. '20Alyse Brown, B.M. '19Jillian Carelli, B.M. '20Claire Clyne, M.M. '17

Nora Cruz, B.M. '20 BerkleeLauren Dessinger, B.M. '17Katherine Fuller, M.M. '18Jasmine Ismail, B.M. '19Julia Kornick, B.M. '19Leah Lozada, B.M. '20

Brianna Meese, M.M. '17Amy Onyonyi, B.M. '20

Veronica Richer, B.M. '18Jennifer Soloway, M.M. '17

Laura Swartz, M.M. '18Micah Welch, B.M. '19

ALTO

Madeline Bawden, B.M. ‘18Alyssa Becker, M.M. ‘18

Katherine Eckard, B.M. ‘20Jennifer Hui, B.M. ‘18

Vanessa Kenney, B.M. ‘17Campbell Mann, B.M. ‘20Lauren Marlow, B.M. ‘20

TENOR

Felix Aguilar Tomlinson, B.M. ‘20Lucas Alvarado, B.M. ‘17

Sam Bailey, B.M. ‘20Alexander Bonner, B.M. ‘18Colin Campbell, M.M. ‘17

Frank Campofelice, M.M. ‘18Christopher Hester, M.M. ‘18

Daniel Lugo, B.M. ‘20Anthony Murgo, B.M. ‘18Anthony Rana, B.M. ‘20

Nicholas Rocha, M.M. ‘17Connor Vigeant, B.M. ‘17

BASS

Jaman Dunn, M.M. '18Will Hurwitz, B.M. '17

James Lesu'i, M.M. '17Michael Miller, M.M. '18

Black Pilger, B.M. '20Eric Sepúlveda, M.M. '18

Izaya Taylor, B.M. '17Clayton Underwood, B.M. '19

John Verkuilen, M.M. '17


JOSEPH TURBESSI, organ—is a versatile musician in the greater Boston area, maintaining a career as a collaborative and solo pianist, conductor, and organist. His piano playing was described by composer/conductor Craig Hella Johnson as an “independent, probing musical voice” with “clear and expressive, singing tone.” He is particularly interested in the music of J.S. Bach and of the 20th and 21st centuries. He holds an M.M. in piano performance from Boston Conservatory.

Turbessi is the assistant conductor for the Lowell House Opera at Harvard University, where he helped lead the American premiere of Salieri's La Grotta di Trofonio in 2015. In December 2016 he produced and directed Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors at St. Peter's Church in Cambridge. He has coached and conducted at Raylynmor Opera, New England Conservatory’s Summer

Opera Intensive, the Shakespeare Concerts, Hope College’s Summer Repertory Theatre, and the Crittenden workshop.

Mr. Turbessi serves as the accompanist for Harvard University’s Radcliffe Choral Society and the choirs of the Boston Conservatory. He has also worked with many of the major choirs in greater Boston, including Chorus Pro Musica, the Lorelei Ensemble, the Harvard University Chorus, the MIT Concert Chorus and Chamber Chorus, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus.

As a solo pianist and organist, Mr. Turbessi is a regular recitalist in greater Boston, and has presented solo recitals at the Boston Conservatory, St. Peter’s Church in Cambridge, the Jamaica Plain Concert Series, the Chelmsford Center for the Arts, and Equilibrium Concerts. He has also participated as an ensemble member with the Michigan Recital Project, the Wolf Italian Songbook Project (“Brokeback Wolf”) Juventas, and other ensembles.

Samuel Solomon, director

B O S T O N C O N S E R VAT O R Y P E R C U S S I O N E N S E M B L E

Ryan Aguilar, B.M. ‘19Tzu-En Chang, M.M. ‘17

Christopher Chapin, B.M. ‘20Joanna Chen, B.M. ‘18

Avik Chari, B.M. ‘20Manuel Garcia, M.M. ‘17

Evan Grover, M.M. ‘17Sam Hardy, B.M. ‘20

Reed Puleo, B.M. ‘19Dan Smiley Raderman, B.M. ‘17

Lucas Ranieri, B.M. ‘18Shelbie Rassler, B.M. ‘20

Noah Rosen, B.M. ‘18Harry Zhang, B.M. ‘19Xinyi Zheng, M.M. ‘17

Elliot Kuhl , B.M. ‘20William Land, B.M. ‘19

Daiwei Lu, B.M. ‘20Gabriella Mayer, M.M. ‘18

Neil McNulty, B.M. ‘18 Cody McVey, B.M. ‘18

Travis Newman, M.M. ‘17Ayami Okamura, M.M. ‘18

20 • Boston Conservatory at Berklee New Music Festival • By All Means

BY ALL MEANS

Object Songs 2014

Felicia Chen, sopranoDavid Angelo, clarinet

Justin Ploskonka, trumpetDillon Robb, violin

Roselyn Hobbs, viola

It Goes Without Saying 2005

David Angelo, clarinet

Step Team 2007

Colleen Carlson, fluteGrant Bingham, bassoon

Emily Weibe, hornJohn Niro, trombone

Neil Parsons, bass tromboneJeremiah Cossa, piano

Dillon Robb, violinRoselyn Hobbs, viola

Olivia Harris, celloEric Hewitt, conductor

P R O G R A M

Friday, February 10, 20178:00 p.m., Seully Hall

Boston Conservatory Contemporary Music EnsembleEric Hewitt, director

— I N T E R M I S S I O N —

Boston Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble • 21

Common Ground 2008

Jeremiah Cossa, pianoDillon Robb, violin

Roselyn Hobbs, viola

Stabat Mater Dolorosa 2010

Rose Hegele, sopranoJoshua Scheid, baritoneDavid Angelo, clarinet

Jane Soh, harpDillon Robb, violin

Roselyn Hobbs, violaOlivia Harris, cello

Eric Hewitt, conductor

By All Means 2004

Colleen Carlson, fluteAidan Rodier, oboe

David Angelo, clarinetEmily Weibe, horn

Justin Ploskonka, trumpetNeil Parsons, bass trombone

Jeremiah Cossa, pianoDillon Robb, violin

Roselyn Hobbs, violaOlivia Harris, cello

Eric Hewitt, conductor


BY ALL MEANSP R O G R A M N O T E S

Object Songs (2014) are a collaboration with illustrator and author Maira Kalman, a longtime friend and source of constant inspiration and delight. These songs are a response to a room Maira curated in New York's Cooper Hewitt Museum, as well as two books she wrote about the objects she chose to be in the room. The emotional centerpiece of the room is Abraham Lincoln's funeral shroud, as well as his pocket watch, which was made to tick again in 2014. That ticking is behind the first song, which urges us: “take your time.” The second song, about a shoe, urges us, quickly, “go out and walk.” The third song is a slow meditation about spoons and the emotional possibilities of soup. The fourth, fifth, and sixth songs (performed without pause) go back to the written word: the text for the fourth is gibberish, abstractly derived from an almost illegibly complicated calligraphic page written by Jan Dan de Velde in 1605. The fifth is from an anonymous needlework sampler, saying, “Amor nos une” (love unites us), and is sung unaccompanied. The sixth song sets Maira's text — found in her book My Favorite Things — about the power of objects and rooms in our memories and in our sense of ourselves. —Nico Muhly

It Goes Without Saying (2005) is surprisingly organic for a piece with such a strong electronic component. While the electronics include chillier, metallic noises (samples ranging from a kitchen whisk to a unique set of tiny bells), most prominent are the warm, woody sounds of a harmonium and of clicking clarinet-keys, sounds that share a certain sonic DNA with the live components of the performance. The piece also develops according to organic principles. Over the initial drone of the harmonium, the rhythm track and the clarinets build the material of the piece up from small, replicating cells into a lively and elaborate texture. The minutely wrought surface is stretched over the simplest possible formal contour, the drone undergirding the piece progressing from C to F and back again. When the slowly building dissonance of the underlying harmonium chord finally reaches its tipping point, the resolution corresponds to a dramatic timbral shock: a shocking burst of industrial noise, dominating rather than complementing its acoustic surroundings. Finally, the machine noises die away and the harmonies return home, the texture warms once again now leavened by the gentle sound of the celesta. —Daniel Johnson

Step Team (2007) was inspired by stepping—an almost militaristic dance form involving the entire body as well as the voice. The routines are highly choreographed and precise but maintain an expressive freedom that comes out of the energy required to pull off the moves. In writing this piece for the Chicago Symphony MusicNOW, I wanted to avoid too much delicate, pointillistic writing and instead focused on making the nine players function as one team with a singular rhythmic agenda. Whenever the Chicago Symphony comes to New York, I am always impressed with the massive steakhouse-style proportions of the brass sound, so, this score features the bass trombone as a guide for the harmonic and lyrical material. At a certain point in the piece, the rhythmic unisons begin to break down, and individual players or groups of players start slowing down or speeding up against the pulse. The bass trombone works as a

Boston Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble • 23

unifying element here, announcing the changes between sections. Some scattered pulses ensue, and the brass section continuously shepherds the other instruments back into line. Step Team ends with a duet between the bass trombone and the piano, with a series of ornaments from the other players. —Nico Muhly

Stabat Mater Dolorosa (2010) is a very simply constructed piece of music. I knew I wanted to write a duet, a piece of religious music, and something to go along with a bit of Birtwistle. My initial instinct was to base the piece on drones, as Birtwistle's music has so very many notes, but then I decided that an austere but ecstatic approach was the best to fill a coherent evening. I asked my friend Craig Lucas to paraphrase the Stabat Mater text—which describes the Virgin Mary weeping at the foot of the cross on which her son is crucified. The piece is organized by separating each phrase of the text with a moment of silence, with the exception of the last three, which are joined with a frenzied chorale with improvised dynamics from the harp, winds and strings. —Nico Muhly

Common Man (2008) employs three different repetitive techniques. The first third of the piece is a cycle of chords of expanding and contracting length, with the violin and cello trading agitated little lines. The second is a pastoral obsession over essentially one chord: light changing over a field. Here, the cello leads, and the violin and piano offer insect-like interruptions. After a metronomic interlude and a free-form interlude, the piano begins stating a ground bass—a repetitive line around which the harmonies constantly shift. This sort of thing pops up in Purcell, where I first encountered it as a choirboy. The piece ends with a hyperactive recapitulation and is approximately nine minutes long. —Nico Muhly

By All Means (2004) was commissioned by the Juilliard School and the Royal Academy of Music in celebration of their concurrent anniversaries. Each of the six commissioned works was meant to respond in some way to Webern's Concerto for 9 Instruments, op. 24. My own response to this curious guideline was to focus on the opening three pitches of the row Webern uses, which, to me, produce a very diatonic outline of a B-flat major chord. One of the most delicious psychological reactions I have had to most serial music is that my brain tries to turn twelve-tone music into post-Wagnerian tonal harmonies: thick, rich chords brimming with meaning and profound significance. I suffer from this disorder even when presented with the thorniest Wuorinen or most inscrutable Babbitt. Listening to the row from op. 24, I was immediately reminded of the cross-relations in Weelkes motets, where a G-major chord and a g-minor chord can appear in the same bar a split-second apart. By All Means is a large arch of several textures in which both Weelkes and Webern can co-exist and collaborate: the scattered points of Webern's orchestration organized together by a Tudor resolution, or the shimmering counterpoint of Weelkes sent astray by sudden chromatic variation. By All Means should last nine minutes and is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, and piano. —Nico Muhly

P R O G R A M N O T E S


B O S T O N C O N S E R VAT O R Y C O N T E M P O R A R Y M U S I C E N S E M B L E

FLUTE

Colleen Carlson, M.M. '17

OBOE

Aidan Rodier, B.M. '18

CLARINET

David Angelo, M.M. '18

BASSOON

Grant Bingham, M.M. '17

HORN

Emily Wiebe, M.M. '17

VIOLIN

Dillon Robb, M.M. '17

VIOLA

Roselyn Hobbs, M.M. '18

CELLO

Olivia Harris, M.M. '18

SOPRANO

Felicia Chen, M.M. '17Rose Hegele, M.M. '18

BARITONE

Joshua Scheid, M.M. '17

Eric Hewitt, director

BY ALL MEANS

TRUMPET

Justin Ploskonka, G.P.D. ‘18

TROMBONE

John Niro, B.M. G.P.D. ‘17

BASS TROMBONE

Neil Parsons, M.M. ‘17

PIANO

Jeremiah Cossa, M.M. '17

HARP

Jane Soh, G.P.D. '17

ACADEMIC OFFICEJoe Bennett, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the ConservatoryJim O’Dell, Associate Dean for Academic OperationsShannon Landis, Academic Operations Manager

B O S T O N C O N S E R VAT O R Y AT B E R K L E E S TA F F

MUSIC DIVISION OFFICEAndy Vores, Interim Dean of MusicLawrence Isaacson, Associate Director of MusicRyland Bennett, Concert Services ManagerTom Rodman, Administrative Coordinator, Music DivisionRyan Fossier, Performance LibrarianAileen Sullivan, Ensembles Coordinator

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